Archive for February, 2013

Approximately 12,000 people showed up for lobby day today. Capitol Park was overflowing and people were waiting up to 1.5 hours to get into the Legislative Office Building. It was the largest political gathering of gun owners anywhere.

Gov. Cuomo made it a point to be as far away from Capitol as he could be. He was doing something on Long Island today. However, there is no way he could have missed it with all the local and national media coverage it received. It’s going to be hard for him and his media allies to keep saying the public overwhelmingly supports him on this issue.

“Andrew Cuomo’s smooth ride as New York’s governor – high approval numbers, flattering newspaper coverage, little by way of fierce opposition – has suddenly hit a rough patch … generally positive media coverage of the governor has turned sour in recent weeks, with stories that reinforce criticism that Cuomo is too controlling and either insufficiently liberal or trying too hard to placate his skeptics on the left … a pair of countervailing narratives about Cuomo have begun to gel. The first is that because he has a problem on the left – a notion fueled by a handful of progressive commentators – he tossed out an array of liberal wish-list policies in the last few months to counter it. They included his gun control bill … That, in turn, prompted another reaction: Republicans in the northern, rural part of the state have been vocal in anger over his gun control legislation. (Cuomo initially suggested that “confiscation” was an option.) …”

And yet some media outlets continue to push the lie that his gun control law has overwhelming public support. It’s starting to stink just like I said it would.

Gun lobby day is set for this Thursday in Albany and it looks like we’re going to have a good turnout which apparently has both Obama and Cuomo worried. SEIU was planning on busing people in for a counter-protest, but that apparently has been called off. According to Fred Dicker:

“… many opponents of Cuomo’s measure viewed the SEIU rally as an attempt to provoke a confrontation. Most of SEIU’s membership is black and Hispanic, while most of the opponents of the Cuomo law are white. Advocates on both sides of the issue were concerned that any confrontation would be seen as having racial overtones. As word of the planned counter-rally spread, the Albany police and aides to Cuomo agreed there was the potential for a serious confrontation …”

While I believe there could have been some legitimate concerns over a confrontation, I do not agree at all with the racial aspects. There are several other things working against a union protest which Fred doesn’t mention that likely had a lot more do with their decision to back off:

Guns are not their issue. While unions do have a proven ability to turn (paid) people out for collective bargaining and budget negotiations, there’s no government cheese on the table for RKBA issues. Why should their members show up?

Many union members are also gun owners. There’s been blowback from them concerning using union dues to promote a non-union issue.

Remington employees in Illion are represented by the United Mine Workers. Was SEIU planning on protesting the UMWA?

There are far more gun owners in the state than SEIU members and they would probably have been far outnumbered, thus making the union look weak and affecting their ability to lobby their real issues later on.

Instead, the Obama/Cuomo/antigun cabal are going for an old standby: celebrity astroturf. According to the Daily News:

“A new coalition of activists, unions and celebrities has formed to hit back against the vocal opposition to Gov. Cuomo’s recently approved gun-reform law, sources told the Daily News … A series of public events are being planned across the Empire State to tout the advantages of the reform bill, which the Legislature approved last month. Among the celebrities said to have joined the nascent effort are hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, actor Ed Norton and the Rev. Al Sharpton …”

Nobody is going to be impressed with those fools. Worse (for them), is the more the public finds out about SAFE, the less they like it. So more power to them.

“… Over 500 troopers called their union hall in the last 2 days. Their collective message is NO! If you do not speak out against this legislation or prove to us your working behind the scenes to undermine it, then we are collectively voting to with hold the political action fund and take you out of office as our reps. All brought to you by vets in the ranks, who refuse to be involved in this unconstitutional parade at the risk of their jobs …”

“… Democratic Legislator Tony Earl mentioned that when he was a young boy in the south he remembers that family members purchased firearms to protect themselves from potential attacks from thieves and the Klu Klux Klan …”

No. The last fee restructuring was seen by most as a mistake from the start. Plus any warm feelings this “outreach” might generate are going to be wiped away the first time hunters are forced to go through a state background check in order to to buy a box ammo.

UPDATE: As I was writing this a reporter from City & State called me on this issue. I’m quoted here.